Chicken is sick: sitting quietly, tail feathers drawn down, drops of fluid coming from beak

[amythebooklady]

I have a 2 year old amber link hen who I found yesterday sitting quietly in a corner of the pen. She didn't move when I approached her and I held her for a while. I noticed that her tail feathers were down instead of up like usual. She had drops of fluid coming from her beak. I isolated her in a seperate coop with water and she did drink some and moved around a bit. This morning she clucked at bit when I came to let her out. She is still seperated from the flock (they are in their usual pen, she is out in the yard) and is now sitting over by the regular hen house...again just sitting quietly, tail feathers down.

I prefer to take care of things myself, so any suggestions on what I should look for or offer her would be greatly appreciated. I don't think she sustained any injury and was able to defend herself when the duck (Mr. Quackers, the bully) came over and started pecking at her through the pen, which I took as a good sign!

 

[fancy flock]

fluid coming out of her nose is not a good sign. but separating her was a good choice. is her crop full or empty? if her crop will not empty she may have sour crop. basically food ferments in the crop and if it gets bad it may start to come back up. to tell if this is it smell her breath id it smells really bad and kinda like sour milk she probably has sour crop. good luck

 

[amythebooklady]

She seems a little more perky now..but still much less active than usual. She just drank some water and pecked at some bird seed she found on the ground, and is now sitting quietly under the hedge grooming herself. I will keep an eye on her as I will be out in the yard working.

The fluid, which was clean, wasn't coming from her nose, but from the tip of her beak, I think. Does that make a difference?

 

[fancy flock]

if it was clean then it might just be like a runny nose

 

[amythebooklady]

Chicken is still pretty quiet although is was harder to catch her after getting her out from under the hedge. Her crop is soft and feels like gravel. Is that normal? She hasn't eaten much at all today. I will continue to isolate her and watch her. She is now in aan outside pen by herself with access to water. Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[amythebooklady]

So I am wondering if anyone has another other advice regarding this chicken. She is still isolated in a seperate coop. Today she did eat a little canteloupe that I chopped up for her, but ignored meal worms and oatmeal. When I took her out of the coop for a few minutes this evening, she did peck around at the ground for a bit. Her crop is small and soft...just feel a little grit in there. I checked her behind to see if she was egg bound and didn't feel a thing....just all soft tissue, and she hasn't layed an egg in a couple of days. She is acting a bit more normal, soft clucks when I come in the coop and hold her. Today she did actually peck me when I was massaging her crop......not hard enough to hurt me, but definately a couple of pecks! I was, quite frankly, happy to see that!!

Anyways...I still have her isolated. Am I doing all I can, or am I missing something. She doesn't seem to be in distress at all.

 

[bowen012]

How is her breathing? Is the fluid: clear/pasty, thin/'gooey', etc. Eyes normal or swollen? Check poop for possible parasites?

 

[amythebooklady]

Breathing is fine. Eyes look normal. I haven't noticed any fluid from her beak since Sunday, and when I did it was clear...like water. I haven't seen many poops, as she is not eating. She grooms herself at times....everything seems normal, except that she isn't eating. I couldnt' believe that she didn't go for the meal worms this morning!

So should I just not worry? I am trying not to, but I am a bit worried about her ....she is one of my favorites...she is so sweet! I just want to be sure I am doing all I can.

 

[CedarAcres]

Could she be having a crop issue? I just went through a sour crop with one of mine last week. She had some clear liquid come out of her mouth a few times. Mine didn't have much of an appetite but did drink some. Check to see if her crop empties normally overnight. If not, I'd suspect some sort of blockage in the crop.

 

[amythebooklady]

Since this is the first time I am dealing with something like this, what should the crop feel like in the morning? The only thing I have felt in her crop over the past couple of days is a gritty feeling. Crop is small, soft and mostly empty...except for the gritty stuff, and it's a small amount. Is that normal for an empty crop? Or is that not really an empty crop? I have searched on line for an answer, but I haven't gotten a clear answer about this particular thing. She did greet me at the door of the coop this morning and ate a bit of watermelon.